3. Investments

A summary of the carrying value of total investments is as follows:

	June 30,		December 31,
(in millions)	2017		2016
Available-for-sale investments	$	103	$	80
Held-to-maturity investments		74		51
Trading investments:
Consolidated sponsored investment funds		503		465
Other equity and debt securities		164		101
Deferred compensation plan mutual funds		52		59
Total trading investments		719		625
Other investments:
Equity method investments⁽¹⁾		935		730
Cost method investments⁽²⁾		92		91
Carried interest⁽³⁾		19		18
Total other investments		1,046		839
Total investments	$	1,942	$	1,595

⁽¹⁾	Equity method investments primarily include BlackRock’s direct investments in certain BlackRock sponsored investment funds.

⁽²⁾	Amounts include nonmarketable securities, primarily Federal Reserve Bank stock, which is held for regulatory purposes and is restricted from sale. At June 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, there were no indicators of impairment on these investments.

⁽³⁾

Carried interest of consolidated sponsor investment funds accounted for as voting rights entities (“VREs”) represents allocations to BlackRock’s general partner capital accounts from certain funds. These balances are subject to change upon cash distributions, additional allocations or reallocations back to limited partners within the respective funds.

Available-for-Sale Investments

At both June 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, available-for-sale investments primarily included certain investments in CLOs and seed investments in BlackRock sponsored mutual funds. The cost of these investments approximated carrying value.

Held-to-Maturity Investments

The carrying value of held-to-maturity investments was $74 million and $51 million at June 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively. Held-to-maturity investments included foreign government debt held primarily for regulatory purposes and certain investments in CLOs. The amortized cost (carrying value) of these investments approximated fair value. At June 30, 2017, $11 million of these investments mature between five to ten years and $63 million mature after ten years.

Trading Investments

A summary of the cost and carrying value of trading investments is as follows:

	June 30,				December 31,
(in millions)	2017				2016
	Cost		Carrying Value		Cost		Carrying Value
Trading investments:
Deferred compensation plan mutual funds	$	34	$	52	$	41	$	59
Equity securities/multi-asset mutual funds		374		408		290		308
Debt securities/fixed income mutual funds:
Corporate debt		174		179		128		128
Government debt		30		30		60		60
Asset/mortgage backed debt		49		50		70		70
Total trading investments	$	661	$	719	$	589	$	625

At June 30, 2017, trading investments included $242 million of debt securities and $261 million of equity securities held by consolidated sponsored investment funds accounted for as VREs, $52 million of certain deferred compensation plan mutual fund investments and $164 million of other equity and debt securities.

At December 31, 2016, trading investments included $246 million of debt securities and $219 million of equity securities held by consolidated sponsored investment funds accounted for as VREs, $59 million of certain deferred compensation plan mutual fund investments and $101 million of other equity and debt securities.

Other

In addition, the Company accounts for its interest in PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. (“PennyMac”) as an equity method investment. At June 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016 the Company’s investment in PennyMac was excluded from investments in the table above and included in other assets on the condensed consolidated statements of financial condition. The carrying value and fair value of the Company’s interest (approximately 20% or 16 million shares and units) was approximately $317 million and $260 million, respectively, at June 30, 2017 and approximately $301 million and $259 million, respectively, at December 31, 2016. The fair value of the Company’s interest reflected the PennyMac stock price at June 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively (a Level 1 input). The Company performed an other-than-temporary impairment analysis as of June 30, 2017 and determined the decline in fair value below the carrying value to be temporary.